The Church Street Townhouse

Set on one of Stratford’s most striking streets of timbered medieval buildings, Church Street Townhouse is a cheerfully friendly venue offering good-value accommodation and food. It is a place of some character; perhaps most notably, its bar is a popular haunt of visiting theatre directors and actors.

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Rooms from

£72per night

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Occupancy

Rooms

Adults

Children

Ages of children

Location

9/10

You’re in the very heart of Shakespeare’s Stratford here, looking on to streets lined by wobbly half-timbered properties. The hotel is next to the creaky old Falcon inn and directly opposite a wonderful 15th-century building, part guildhall, part school where the Bard was educated – Shakespeare’s Schoolroom is currently being developed as a visitor attraction. In addition, you’re adjacent to New Place, which is Shakespeare’s former home. The Royal Shakespeare Company theatres are within easy walking distance.

Style & character

7/10

Church Street Townhouse has the cosy informality of a pub with rooms rather than the chic looks of a boutique hotel. This cheerfully friendly place has wooden floors, old settles and swathes of red curtains theatrically draped beside doorways. The stucco-fronted property has an 18th-century façade set on the framework of a Tudor property that in the 1600s was probably the second largest home in Stratford, after that of Shakespeare across the way. Upstairs and at the back of building you’ll see characterful beams.

For several centuries this was a private home. It subsequently became a dental surgery and then, in 2010, a hotel. In October 2015 it was acquired by the Brakspear group, the family-run brewing company based in Henley.

Service & facilities

7/10

Staff are generously helpful in providing insights about Stratford. The hotel’s facilities per se are limited but there are some wonderfully idiosyncratic touches: pupils from King Edward VI School across the road play the piano in the bar for an hour or so every evening (except Sundays); yet if you’re after peace, head to the ground-floor library which is the oldest part of the building and, being the former kitchen, still features an ancient oven.

Bar

Restaurant

Wi-Fi

Rooms

7/10

The 12 bedrooms are of all shapes and sizes (some looking slightly worn at the moment) – and in each guests are supplied with a small decanter of port. The most romantic, under beams and featuring a claw-foot bath behind red curtains, is No 3. There are good views from third-floor rooms.

Food & drink

7/10

The bar has become a popular venue for Stratford’s theatre crew so you may rub shoulders with actors and directors there. For excellent value, join the locals for champagne happy hour (at £20 a bottle) from 5-6pm on Friday evenings. The restaurant serves classic bistro dishes, the likes of moules mariniere and beef Wellington, and offers a good-value pre-theatre menu (£13.50 for two courses).

Breakfast choices range from croissants and muesli to to eggs Benedict on a toasted muffin, all of which can be uplifted by a glass of Bucks Fizz (£6.50) or prosecco (£4.50).